


Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Love Live!

by PinkPoinsettias



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project, 少女☆歌劇 レヴュー・スタァライト | Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight (Anime)
Genre: F/F, Not Beta Read, Songfic, crossover AU, no one wants this but me lol, revue starlight au, technically I guess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:00:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25606264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinkPoinsettias/pseuds/PinkPoinsettias
Summary: Starlight is a beloved song sung by countless idol groups across the country. As children, Honoka and Umi make a promise to each other that one day, they'll stand on the stage together performing the classic so dear to their hearts, even as she watches Umi move away for school. Now 16 years old, Kousaka Honoka reunites with her lost friend Sonoda Umi after the latter mysteriously transfers to her school. As the cogs of fate turn, the two girls are destined to become apart of the mysterious series of battles underneath their school, called revues, in order to determine who will become the "Top Idol".
Relationships: Kousaka Honoka/Sonoda Umi
Comments: 8
Kudos: 30





	1. Revue of Passion

**Author's Note:**

> Revue 1: Revue of Passion  
> Starring: Kousaka Honoka, Sonoda Umi, Nishikino Maki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revue 1: Revue of Passion  
> Starring: Kousaka Honoka, Sonoda Umi, Nishikino Maki

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welcome to the beginning of this story! hope you enjoy it

_Starlight._

_This is the story of goddesses guided by the light of the stars._

_They collide and clash. They grow closer even as they pass each other by._

_However, they are pulled apart, never to meet again. It is a somber tale._

_The story of those eight girls hopelessly captivates us. The song of those eight girls hopelessly stirs us._

_Let us go to that stage, to that shining star together!_

____________________________________________________

  
  


The time was 5:30 AM. An early morning light blanketed Tokyo as the sun slowly began to rise past the clouds into the sky. The cool shroud of mist on the ground that wet the tips of leaves and grass started to thinly dissipate in the warmth of the rising sun. It had been a quiet morning so far, and the only people up so far being business owners.

“Honoka-chan, wake up! We have to go!” The buzzing of an alarm clock went unnoticed by its owner as did the yelling coming from outside the window. 

“You can’t afford to be late today, remember? Honoka-chan!!” 

“Ugh...” The recipient in question finally sat up groggily from her bed, rubbing her sleepy blue eyes, wanting to just go back to sleep. Stalling for one last second before pulling her covers off her body, she padded over towards the source of the noise, passing her calendar on the wall that spelled ‘ _ON DUTY/EARLY MORNING PRACTICE_ ’ in bright red letters. Fiddling with the handle on the window with one hand while trying to silence her alarm clock with the other, she gave another yawn.

Finally getting it to open, Honoka Kousaka promptly stuck her painfully messy orange bed head out of her second story window to stare down at her concerned friend on the street. And she only had one thing to say.

“ ‘Kay. ”

Only a drowsy wave and cursory “I’m leaving now!” was given quietly to the still slumbering inhabitants of the rest of the house through their doors as Honoka made her way out to meet her friend outside.

“Honoka-chan, you can’t ask me to wake you up then refuse to actually get up!” exasperated her friend, whose name was Kotori. Kotori Minami to be exact. She was a cute girl with silver hair tied in a ribbon.

“Mhm...”

Meeting in their final year of elementary school, the two girls became fast friends. Kotori was always a happy girl, quickly warming up to Honoka. She was incredibly kind and reliable, but was the type to follow from behind instead of leading, and could be an airhead at times. Seeing as Honoka was more than well equipped to lead, their dynamic quickly fell into a natural pace that both girls treasured dearly. 

“It’s not like I’ll always be able to do this, you know.” 

“Right, I’m sorry Kotori-chan...”

The two stood at the crosswalk, waiting for the pedestrian sign to light up. Honoka let out another yawn as they both waited. Kotori seemed much more attentive than her quite lethargic friend this morning. Even though her words seemed exasperated— they were about to be late after all— her tone held no malice in it. She seemed quite alright with fetching Honoka in the morning, a quiet smile gracing her features as she watched Honoka sleepily finger the ends of her hair.

“Ah, the light!” Taking Honoka’s arm, Kotori began tugging the girl across the quiet street, but was met with force holding her back.

“Kotori-chan, hold on!” Turning her head to the side to expose her half-ponytail to her friend. Or more importantly, the lack of one. She had left her ribbon at home!

“Ehhh?” But they were so close to school!

Suddenly taking off in a sprint, Honoka raced down the street back to her home, leaving Kotori to follow her all the way back as well. 

After a few streets and a flight of stair’s worth of sprinting, Kotori was left tired and panting at the entrance of Honoka’s room, a stark contrast to Honoka herself, who seemed unaffected. She began tying her time-weathered yellow ribbon that she had left on her desk into her hair. She never looked into the mirror on her wall, instead at a picture on her desk of her and someone else as a child.

“Honoka-chan… did we really have to come all the way back—” Kotori panted out before looking up to see her friend much more attentive now that her hair was now in her signature half-ponytail style. Suddenly, Kotori felt much less irked by the situation, a smile melting on her face.

“Good morning, Honoka-chan.”

“Yeah! Good morning!”

____________________________________________________

Once they reached school via another round of sprinting, the two girls quickly fetched the keys to their classroom. This morning, both girls were on duty. Rapidly sweeping through their assigned tasks like clockwork, the two quickly finished and began changing out of their uniforms and into workout gear for their _real_ duties. 

Practice was going to be early today, and Kotori was given the keys to the roof, seeing as her mother was the chairwoman of the school board.

Honoka was dressed in a sky blue tee with a red undershirt and navy workout pants that went to her knees, while Kotori was dressed in a yellow one with green polka dots and a gray skirt with deep green thigh-high socks.

Practically taking the steps by three, Honoka swiftly went up the stairs leading to the roof. Unlocking the door, the two girls were greeted by an early morning coolness that made Kotori’s stand up from the goosebumps.

Promptly stepping past the door’s threshold and dropping her duffel against the wall, she ran to the center of the rooftop, spinning in a circle once she got there. 

“All right, I’m first!” she said standing proudly in the light. They called that position the rooftop _center position_. It was important to have a reference point while practicing, but it was also where the lead stood during a performance if it were the stage. 

“C’mon Kotori-chan, let’s stretch!” She held her hand out to the other girl, still beyond the threshold of the door, who gave a nod of affirmation. 

The two began their warm up on the rooftop. It was important to stretch out every part of their body properly before any exercise, so both girls took their time. 

The two were school idols. A part of a larger group in fact, named μ’s. They danced and sang together with the other members, all girls Honoka treasured early as friends. Formed at the beginning of the year, their mission was to try and save the school from closing, to which their efforts paid off. More girls had enrolled as soon as next trimester! Now, the group performed for themselves, and for everyone else to enjoy too. If Honoka was being honest though, there was a person that she wished could join as well, but she wouldn’t sweat the details, she was having fun either way! 

“Make sure you can feel it in your thighs and buttocks.” Kotori said, apparently having no trouble with the stretches. Honoka, on the other hand, was having much more trouble than her flexible friend, shouting, “No way, no way!”

Right as they finished their stretches, a commotion from beyond the door caught their attention. 

“Hm? Oh, it’s open.” 

A girl with shoulder length red hair peaked through the door. Dressed in a simple black shirt dotted with a star and red yoga pants, she placed her bag beside the door next to Kotori’s. 

“Naturally it’s open Maki-chan, I got here first after all!” Honoka said proudly. 

“Didn’t you come in last 2 days ago?” The girl retorted quickly, to which Honoka quickly deflated.

“I didn’t believe I’d see the day,” A singsong voice echoed from the door’s entrance. A shorter looking girl appeared. She had deep black hair, tied in twintails by two red bows that matched a pair of striking red eyes. She wore a red magenta shirt with a short but flowing pink skirt and white thigh-high socks. “that Honoka would get up on time.” Twirling around, she struck a pose in front of the three girls on the rooftop, which only earned a roll of her eyes from Maki. 

“The greatest school idol of all time, Nico-chan, is now here!”

“Hey, this school idol Kosaka Honoka is evolving by the day!” she exclaimed, pumping a fist in the air before shouting, “Faito Dayo!” and striking a pose with a Kotori who seemed coerced into doing so. 

“So, Honoka-chan only got up because of Kotori-chan right?” A voice came from behind them. At the door, was an older looking girl with deep long purple hair that complemented her clear green eyes. They were tied in low twintails with scrunchies. She wore a lavender colored shirt with a yellow crescent moon, accompanied by a pair of tan work out pants that went down mid calf. 

“Nozomi-chan, you’re the only one who understands me!” Kotori exclaimed, running into the older girls outstretched arms. 

“It was foretold in the cards, so I understand everything.” 

“C’mon Rin-chan! Wake-up!” a more worried voice came from the now propped open door to the roof. Two girls walked to the entrance of the roof, one slumped against the other. The girl still asleep had light orange hair of pixie cut length and was wearing a white shirt and tesl yoga pants, while the one propping her up had chin length light brown hair and was wearing a light pink short sleeved zip up jacket and and a darker pink pair of work out pants. 

“But Kayo-chin, I’m tired nya...” 

“It’ll take more than sleepyheads to compete with the greatest idol in the world, Nico-chan!” Said ‘greatest idol’ made what she called her signature pose, to which Maki responded with, “Sure, sure, Nico-chan.” 

“Say that again!?” 

The two went back and forth with each other until a voice came from the door.

“Good morning everyone.” Immediately the two girls still at the door stepped aside. A tall girl with blonde hair tied in a ponytail stepped up to the door. She wore a light blue shirt and tight navy blue workout shorts. Giving off an elegant aura that no one else there could emulate, the girls all stopped their arguing.

“Good morning, Eli-chi.” Nozomi gave the girl a lazy wave, to which Eli responded with her own.

“Let’s get started everyone. Come on Rin, don’t give Hanayo a hard time,”

“Okayyyyy...” 

After a few moments, the last two remaining entered as well. The girls all came together and started their practice. As the morning continued, Honoka thought to herself, “ _I’m feeling good today!_ ”

____________________________________________________

Honoka Kosaka loved singing and dancing. Twirling around on stage, giving it your all until your voice went numb, she loved all of it. Even the more musically advanced concepts of the art she could respect. What goes into the music, the lyrics, the choreography, it was all wonderful to Honoka even if she didn’t understand all of it. 

So when Honoka found out her school was at risk of shutting down due to low enrollment numbers, aside from the intense feeling of sadness she felt, she jumped on the chance to be able to put her passions to use. School idols were becoming popular these days looking by the looks of schools like UTX Academy, who boasted an impressive student body _because_ of the influence of its school idol group, A-RISE.

That Honoka would run into one of their performances and become inspired to try her own hand at it could be considered the logical conclusion to the circumstances. Nozomi would call it fate probably. That Honoka would end up buying the last piece of bread today, now that was _definitely_ fate. 

Honoka, Kotori, Maki, and Hanayo were the only ones free for lunch today. Eli and Nozomi had student council duties, and Nico and Rin were roped into heping. Well, Nico at least. Rin was always eager to help out a friend. 

“Ahhh, I don’t wanna go to afternoon classes...” Honoka said tiredly, slumping hard onto the outdoor benches. “Kotori-chan… what class do we have next?”

“English.” 

“Ahhhhh-” Honoka’s wailing was suddenly interrupted by a flyer being shoved in her face by Maki. Taking the piece of paper in her hands, she read the words aloud. 

“Otonokizaka Academy School Festival… Wait, we're already getting posters? It’s still pretty far away.” Suddenly getting up, Honoka twirled around with the paper in her hand. “I can’t wait to perform our songs again! I still remember _all_ the dance moves.”

Plucking the poster out of her hand, Maki asserted, “What’s important is to show how much we’ve grown since the first performance.” 

“Oh yeah, huh?” A round of giggles erupted from the group. 

“It sure was fun though, seeing µ's perform for the first time,” Hanayo went on. “There was no one else, but everyone in our group seemed to magically come together to watch Honoka-chan and Kotori-chan.” 

That’s right… The very first time µ's performed was when it had only 2 members. That night no one else came to watch but the other future members of µ's. It was what inspired the two to keep trying their hardest. 

“It was unforgettable, an eternal moment,” Hanayo gushed. She really did love school idols didn’t she? 

“I want to perform Starlight at the school festival this year. I love that song so much! It’s so beautiful, yet sad, and it really fires you up! Right, Kotori-chan?” Turning to face Kotori, their faces became close.

“Yeah!” Kotori answered, not shying away from their closeness. She continued, “You know, maybe, one day we should perform the duet together for the festival?”

“And what about us?” Maki asked loudly, turning the group’s attention on her. “The rest of us love Starlight too, so maybe one of us wants to be the center, you know?" It was true, everyone in μ’s loved the song dearly, and performing it would no doubt be something to remember to them. One of the first things that brought the group together, was a shared love of the musical the song was based off of. "Anyways, the theater club asked us to perform a rendition of Starlight as well. They're performing it this year too.”

“Yeah I guess, it'd be a good tie in. Maybe we should hold auditions for it or something?” Honoka laughed, “like the musical!”, but Maki only held a serious expression on her face. “We should head back to class soon.” Promptly getting out of her seat, the redhead walked away toward the classrooms. The rest of the group awkwardly trailed behind her. 

“Did I make her mad?”

____________________________________________________

On the way back to class, Honoka only got increasingly tired. A worried ‘ _Are you okay?_ ’ from Kotori was only met with answers of bread swirling around in her brain, turning and turning like the wheel of a car. 

As tiredness quickly overtook Honoka’s brain, the bread quickly morphed away into the shape of something. The browns of the carbs turned into silvers and grays of a ticking gear. At first there was only one gear, which ticked slowly in a clockwise direction, before gaining speed. What seemed like hundreds of other gears quickly appeared to have joined it from nowhere as complicated systems of pulleys and ropes drew back a pair of large curtains. 

And behind the curtains laid a sharp gust of wind and thousands of clouds as far as the eye could see.

Where was she? 

Looking around, countless giant red metal bars welded together surrounded Honoka. Giant nuts and bolts lined the bars. Looking down, all she could see was a sea of clouds and a blue sky. The cold air sent shivers down her spine.

_Tokyo Tower?_ It was the only place that matched the profile, after all. Now that she looked around more, the rest of Tokyo could be seen under the moving clouds. The sea glittered clearly from way up high. Was this a dream? But then why did everything feel so real? 

Her first instinct was to shout, “Woah, amazing!” but after a second of rational thought came to Honoka, she instead asked, “Wait. Why am I up here?” 

She looked down once more at the ever evolving scenery, when abruptly Honoka felt a push on her back. With a single yelp, the ground beneath her disappeared completely. Suddenly the city below her was getting bigger and bigger, but it wasn’t processing fast enough in Honoka’s mind that it was because she was falling.

Flailing around in the air, Honoka turned in the air, leaving her back facing the ground in order to look up at her assailant. Falling fast, the figure of her attacker quickly faded from view, but she could make out one small but important detail. 

A wash of dark blue hair. 

As Honoka descended from the top of Tokyo Tower, she couldn’t help but think of one thing.

_That’s right. This was where she bought that ribbon. But it won’t get fulfilled like this… The promise we made together…_

And right before she hit the concrete of Tokyo Tower,

_Ring, ring, ring…_

Someone’s ringtone? Looking around, Honoka wasn’t at Tokyo Tower any longer, but instead on the floor in the hallway, with many concerned students surrounding her. 

“Honoka-chan? Are you okay?” Kotori worriedly asked. 

“Uh,” Honoka started before getting cut off by a voice coming down the hallway. 

“I’m sure she’s fine, Honoka-chi’s a sturdy girl anyways.” It was Nozomi! Accompanying her was the rest of μ’s who mostly had concerned expressions on their faces. However, Nico retorted with, “You mean she’s a total brick head right? A silly fall like that couldn’t hurt her.”

“Hey!”

Her comment had successfully eased the tension of the girl’s, including Honoka’s. And as the rest of the group had decidedly passed her fall off as just another Honoka-type thing to do, Maki who was turned away from the group, instead only stared at her phone.

“Do you need to go to the nurse Honoka?” asked Eli. Her motherly aura was very calming to Honoka, making her forget about her previous injury. Maybe it was because she was the student council president?

“I’m fine. Thanks though!” Getting off the floor and dusting her skirt off, she assured everyone that she was fine, and walked back to class with Kotori once the bell finally rang.

Honoka went back to class as energetic as ever, completely unaware of the text one of the members of μ’s had just received. 

____________________________________________________

“Today, a new transfer student will be joining the class. I know it’s suden, but make sure you get along with her.” A chorus of curious chatter overtook the classroom. With how small the school was right now, it was unusual that they’d get a new classmate. Did they get rejected from the private schools in the area? Many of the students enrolling wouldn’t come until next trimester, so why was she here now? 

These were the questions of the girls surrounding her, but Honoka was still dazed from her earlier dream of the tower, staring out the window instead of partaking in conversation. _That was a weird dream._

“Alright settle down now. You can come in now.” 

She could hear the door slide open alongside the footsteps of another person. 

“I’m Sonoda Umi. Please take care of me.” 

_Wait, what?_ Snapped out of her daze, Honoka whipped her head to the front of the classroom to get a look at her new classmate. Long dark blue hair cascading down her back, a pair of eyes the color of amber, and pale skin like snow. She stood tall next to the writing of her name.

_Umi-chan?_

She was scanning over the people of the class, or at least it seemed like she was before she stopped at Honoka herself. She met her eyes, holding her gaze for a few seconds before turning away. 

“Umi-chan?” she asked trepidly. 

“Kosaka, sit down,” the teacher said. Had she gotten up? Looking down, she realized that she was, in fact, out of her seat, both hands planted on her desk. Embarrassment and shame quickly overcame the girl as she sat back down with a loud ‘Sorry!’ and a blush on her face. 

That didn’t last for long, however, as her mood quickly turned into one of excitement.

“Sonoda-san is a transfer student from UTX High School. She hasn’t lived in the area for quite a while, so help her as much as you can.” 

A chorus of yeses filled the room, Honoka’s especially ardent. 

“Okay, let’s see, who’s on duty today...” the teacher started, to which Honoka got out of her seat once more to loudly exclaim, “That’s me! I’ll help her with everything!”

“Kosaka, sit down. You don’t have to stand.” 

As Honoka excitedly apologised, Kotori took the opportunity to get a good look at the new transfer student’s face. She looked very familiar somehow, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. She knew that she had never met before, but Honoka seemed to have known her? 

_The picture in her room?_ Oh, it was that girl in the picture when Honoka was a child! 

“After homeroom is over, show her around school. Minami, go with them, I don’t see this going well.” 

____________________________________________________

The entire tour, Honoka couldn’t keep her excitement down. Every area they showed Umi was shown with enthusiasm, even in areas as small as the bathroom. Always an excitable girl, Honoka always took in new events with eagerness, but this was something Kotori hadn’t seen from the girl.

“Is it really… Is it really, really, really you, Umi-chan?” Honoka started. “It’s been super long! How many years has it been?”

The first thing that Kotori saw was that Umi was a very reserved girl. 

“Twelve years.” 

Her answers were sparse, but very courteous. She treated everyone she was introduced to on the tour with a curt bow or respectful handshake. She wasn’t outright cold, but Kotori could definitely feel a wall around her. The girl looked at everything with the same amount of interest —or maybe disinterest— in whatever subject, not revealing much about herself. The only thing Kotori could maybe glean from her personality was that the transfer student seemed maybe interested in archery? She couldn’t really tell though, it was just that they stopped in front of the school’s archery range for a bit, and Umi seemed like she already knew the rules when introduced to the captain. 

None of this seemed to affect Honoka however, who kept chugging along as happy as a camper.

“You left the area so long ago, I was really surprised when you showed up out of the blue!”

“It’s amazing you went to UTX though, I heard they’re a pretty hard school to get into. Was there any reason why you transferred?” Kotori asked.

“Most of the women in my family attended this school. I thought it was only fit to continue that tradition.” 

“That’s amazing, Sonoda-san!” Kotori started. The way she spoke and the way she talked of her lineage and tradition… The way she walked and the style of her hair… 

_She’s a total Yamato Nadeshiko!_

“You haven’t changed a bit though. After all, you still have _that,_ like we promised!” 

_Huh? What were they talking about?_ Kotori thought.

“I guess so...” Umi said, averting her eyes.

“Last stop Umi-chan, the roof!” Honoka exclaimed. They were at the base of the stairs leading to the roof now. Taking her hand, the girl began dragging her up the stairs, leaving Kotori behind.

“Honoka-chan!” Quickly following after them, Kotori saw that the two other girls had burst through the door onto the rooftop. Once she was out there as well, Kotori was greeted with the scene of Honoka taking Umi’s hands in hers in the center. 

Umi held the look of a spooked deer with a blush rapidly overtaking her face, but nonetheless stayed put. 

“Become a school idol with me Umi-chan!”

____________________________________________________

  
  


“We’re getting a new member?” Hanayo asked, her voice small. Practice had just begun, and most of the members were ready to start, except for Honoka, who along with Umi and Kotori stayed on the roof waiting for the rest of the group. 

Hanayo was a shy person, always hiding behind Rin whenever she encountered something odd, and this was no different. Rin on the other hand, was totally unfazed, instead keeping her same Cheshire Cat grin in amusement. The shy girl looked to Kotori for comfort, who only gave her a smile that said she was just going with the flow. 

As much as Umi didn’t look the type, she had agreed readily to Honoka’s proposition for some reason. She didn’t seem like she enjoyed school idols at all.

“Uhm, Honoka-chan, isn’t this a bit all too sudden?” Hanayo asked, voice wavering.

“I don’t see the problem nya! It’s just one more person right?” Rin exclaimed. Walking up to Umi, the cat faced girl held her hand out. “My name’s Hoshizora Rin! What’s yours?” 

Taking her hand, Umi bowed slightly. “My name is Sonoda Umi, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” 

“There’ll be a lot of adjusting we’ll have to do to incorporate Sonoda-san into the group at this point,” Eli, ever the voice of reason, said. 

“I think I’m with Eli on this one, we’ve already got a lot on our plate as it is,” Maki added, to which some of the other members agreed to. Nico especially so, pointing out how she didn’t “need another rival for her greatest-idol-in-the-world position!”

“If it’s about the outfits, I can help out!,” Honoka started, getting more heated as she listed more reasons. “And if we’re talking about line distribution, Umi and I could just sing together!” 

It wasn’t odd to see Honoka fired up about something, but it was weird to see her say something so… logical. 

“And for our formation, we’re still in the middle of choreographing a lot of dances so it can’t be that hard to fit her in, right?” 

“So, plea-” Honoka started, before getting cut off by Umi herself, surprisingly. 

“Please, allow me to join your group.” Taking a deep bow that stunned most of the group, including Honoka, she continued.

“I promise I’ll do everything in my power to not bring any trouble towards the group.” 

A bout of silence swept through the rooftop. Everyone could only think of one thing at that point.

_She’s a total Yamato Nadeshiko!_

Such a display of humility seemed to be moving to the group, with most of them now seriously considering it. Honoka seemed especially moved, and looked to Eli for her approval. Another beat of silence occurred before Kotori broke the silence. 

“I think this could be fun as well,” she said with a smile, to which Umi raised her head to. “And I don’t mind making another costume.” 

“The Muses of Greek Mythology were a group of nine after all.” Nozomi continued, stepping up with a mischievous smile. 

“Nozomi...” Eli murmured, the two locking eyes. After a second, Eli broke their stare saying, “...Well if everyone’s serious about putting in the work, then I won’t object.” 

“We will, right Umi-chan?” Honoka asked with a smile, turning to Umi, who nodded.

“Uhm, if everyone e-else is okay with it, I am too I guess,” Hanayo finally mustered. 

“I’m fine if Eli’s fine with it I guess...” Maki relented as well. Which only left one person left in the group. Said person was currently sweating under the hopeful looks and pleas of the other members. 

“Nico-chan...” Honoka started. Her best puppy eyes were glittering in the light of the afternoon day.

“Ugh...” Each pair of eyes weighed on Nico’s conscience like a five ton weight, and it would only be a few more seconds of silent pleading to make her shift from foot to foot before she gave in. “W-well, I guess it’d be alright if we had another backup dancer in the group. To help me shine even more I guess...” The second she finished her sentence, she was swarmed by a hug from Honoka, holding her as tight as possible.

With a clear gaze, Umi bowed once more. “Thank you all.”

____________________________________________________

Today felt like the best day ever to Honoka. First, she’d gotten to see Umi for the first time in who knows how long, and now they were getting to sing and dance together! She’d never told anyone, but her and Umi used to love seeing live performances together whenever they could. It cultivated a love for the art in Honoka, and she was sure it was the same for the other girl.

And the cherry on top was that today was light practice! Most of the practice was spent trying to integrate the new member into their routine, dances, and songs as smoothly as they could. 

And a smooth integration it was. Umi proved adept at most things school idol related. She was a graceful dancer, learning the moves in record time as well as being an amazing singer with a deep voice which turned out to be a nice addition to the group’s sound. 

But now practice was over, and the sunset had drenched the roof top of the school in fiery oranges and reds. Most were taking their time, cooling down and packing up, except for Umi herself, who had quickly excused herself with a polite bow, before swiftly leaving the roof. 

“W-what? Okay, bye Umi-chan… See you tomorrow!” Honoka yelled. "I wanted to walk home with her..."

After that, the group started making their leaves home starting with Maki, who left fairly quickly after Umi did, then Rin and Hanayo, then Honoka herself and Kotori, leaving only the third years on the roof. 

“Well Nico-chi, think you’ve got another rival on your hands?” Nozomi joked playfully, taking a sip from her water bottle. 

Haughtily, Nico responded. “No way! She may be a good dancer and all, but no one can beat me! I’m the greatest idol after all.” 

“Besides that though, there’s something a little odd about our new member. I can’t put my finger exactly on it, but it’s kinda like her heart isn’t there.” Eli said, gravely. She wasn’t wrong. Throughout the entire practice all three girls noticed Umi held quite the poker face while performing. Her singing was on pitch, but there was little emotion held in regards to it. And while dancing, she may have gotten the moves down, but she looked no more or less happy to be doing it. 

A silence swept through the air before Nozomi finally spoke up cryptically. 

“Earlier, the cards told me that something big is gonna happen. I think our new member may be it…” 

____________________________________________________

Currently, Honoka was running back to school from the stoplight she and Kotori were at. After rummaging through her bag and realizing she had left her phone, she assured the other girl that she could go home without her before sprinting back. 

_Jeez, this sucks!_

Night was fast approaching, and she was sure everyone had left. Surely enough, the front door to the school was locked. Looking around, Honoka rounded the side of the school and found a window on the first floor leading to the main hallway that was open. Checking to see if anyone was still around, she quickly slid open the window and jumped through. 

Once inside, she found that on the way to her classroom that all the lights were off, except for one near the end of the hallway, which was a little odd. Slowly approaching it, she found that the door underneath the light was an entrance to another room with a metal door. Sandwiched between two bulletin boards, it looked completely inconspicuous. Stepping inside, she found a small room with what looked to be an elevator in it.

“An elevator? Has this always been here?” Honoka mused aloud. She was now curious about the seemingly unknown elevator the school housed, having promptly forgotten about her phone. The elevator clashed with the rest of the school’s mostly old architecture and Honoka scoured her brain to try and remember if her homeroom teacher had told the class about the topic. Taking the room in, Honoka’s attention was quickly caught by the two elevator buttons. 

“A down button…?” But she was on the first floor, wasn’t she? Did the school have a basement? Curiosity quickly overcame her and Honoka found that she could not resist seeing where it went, almost as if she was being drawn in. 

Finally putting her finger to it, she found that… nothing happened. At first.

Disappointed, Honoka was about to step out before hearing a loud buzzer go off that caught her attention. It was only a second later until she felt the entire room shake and then suddenly plunge downward at an incredible speed. 

Screaming, Honoka flailed about the moving room before steadying herself against the wall. From within, she could see that the entire room was now moving on a set of rails which clashed against the foundation of the room, causing sparks to fly. 

_What is happening right now!?_

Outside the open faced door laid a space mostly darkened from Honoka’s perspective, but from the sound of her own echoing screams, must’ve been enormous. From the corner of her eye, she could see what looked like moving spotlights dancing across the dark walls of the area. 

Through the girl’s own screaming, the sharp voicings of a harp could be heard; a lonely repetition of same eighth notes played continuously. 

“Well then, today marks the first day of auditions.” A mysterious voice rumbled and echoed throughout the expanse. The sound of whirring gears and systems, not unlike one for an elaborate play, grew louder and louder until it rang in Honoka’s ears. 

“Let’s start the Revue of Passion!” 

It was at this point that the voice cried triumphantly that the harp was joined by the soft notes of a piano, and then a mysterious melody of an oboe. And to that sound did the elevator of the room start to break apart rapidly until there was nothing left but Honoka flying through the air to the sound of the oboe. 

“AHHHH—”

“Aim to be the next top idol. Sing, dance, and _fight_ to win.”

“—AHHH—Oof.”

As if she was the downbeat of the next measure, the second Honoka found herself no longer flying but instead squarely cushioned in a red velour seat, the rumblings of a low string section took over the melody from the oboe. Looking around her, she found thousands of more seats like hers, arranged in an arc far above the ground, as if she had rented out an entire balcony section at a show. 

Looking down, she spied a ginormous white stage, completely circular with a red band stretching around it. On the arena below her laid pink tape in a T position to mark the center with a small red circle around it. At the far end of the stage was a towering column, multiple spotlights running across its walls. At the very top was a gigantic tiara, speckled with beautiful gems. Behind it stood what seemed to be Tokyo Tower, red painted bars and all. The sheer absurdity of the situation couldn’t even begin to register in Honoka’s mind at the moment, let alone what was actually happening in front of her eyes. 

The spotlights crawling on the walls of the giant column ran to a stop before simultaneously shutting off all at once, leaving the arena in pitch blackness. The sound of the instruments quieted down to a pianissimo as the notes of the piano’s arpeggio came to an end, resolving to let two spotlights from opposite sides shine down at a singular point in the center.

_“_ _The fury that ignited pierced through the darkness,_

_Illuminating the girls' longings..._ ” 

Springing out of her seat, Honoka grabbed the railings to peer over, looking over the balcony to see two girls standing face to face all the way in the center of the stage, singing in unison. The music now became a full orchestra, a snare drum marching a steady beat. 

“Maki-chan… and Umi-chan too?”

They were dressed in some kind of costume, reminiscent of military uniforms but much more personalized to each girl. Stepping into each other's proximity, continuing their song, they held a hand out for the other; their movements big, their voices strong. Caressing one another’s cheek, they grew closer before ripping themselves away from one another in a twirl, weapons now visible in their hands. For Umi, a small dagger, and Maki a bow and arrow. With another twirl, they came back to each other to raise their respective blades to each other's necks.

The spotlights disappeared only to have the entire arena become flooded with light a second later as the girls tore away from each other with a clash. The flashes of steel grinding against steel filled the underground arena, the force of each strike sending sparks skittering across the floor.

“But, what are the two of them doing?” Honoka asked aloud, her thoughts frantic at the notion of her friends fighting each other. Down on the stage, Umi had just landed a string of unsuccessful hits that were blocked by the limb of Maki’s bow. Ducking under the swing of the other girl, Maki quickly notched an arrow and fired it, only missing by the sliver of Umi’s hair. 

Quickly passing Umi, the arrow traveled far into the stands, barely missing Honoka’s face by a few inches as she flinched instinctively, turning away to see where the arrow landed. A feeling of uneasiness washed over Honoka, turning her head back across the empty seats, well except for the giant alpaca next to her _,_ to plead on deaf ear to stop the— _Wait, what!?_

“I understand...” Turning her head, she indeed came face to face with an overwhelmingly large alpaca with a surprisingly deep voice, which frankly made no sense. It was tall, it was fluffy, and had a bow on its tail. 

“An alpaca!?” _And it spoke too? What else is there!?_

“The revue has already begun.” The lights dimmed once more as the most of the orchestra fell away to just the sounds of the harp and piano. A warm glimmer of red radiated from the gem placed at the tip of Maki’s bow. 

_“_ _A flame that reaches the heavens burns through me_

_As the star compelled by sin falls down,_ _”_

As if the sound of Maki’s voice filling the ring had made the stage obey her, it began transforming around her. Slowly rising, a set of stairs appeared underneath her, lifting her up as she sang. Lights embedded into the stairs themselves turned and faced Maki to shed light on her dance as the final step locked into place. From above, colored wooden cutouts of stars in pink and yellow attached to cable rope slowly came down to act as a backdrop to the entire performance. Red curtains encompassed the entire stage, lights hanging behind them. Right above Maki herself hung a star, the biggest of them all, acting as the centerpiece to it all. The sheer spectacle of the stage arranging itself to fit Maki’s song and dance impressed Honoka.

“This is… a revue?” Honoka asked in total awe. All of this was happening beneath the school the whole time? Looking up, she could see all of the scaffolding holding the props together. The ceiling seemed to tower above her. _It’s gotta fit Tokyo Tower, after all._

“Indeed. Song and dance woven into a mesmerizing play. To the person who puts on the brightest-shining revue, the path to becoming the Top Idol will open up.” 

_“I have a dream I cannot surrender, I have a sky I want to protect_

_This arrow will keep on chasing after you like a shooting star...”_

Dashing forward from across the stage, Umi began her upwards climb. Maki had begun her assault as well, firing what seemed to be an endless amount of arrows at rapid speeds. Dodging and flipping past the torrent of arrows, Umi almost ran into a wooden star that quickly dropped in front of her to stand her way, and sidestepped it. 

“Who will obtain that Star Tiara, and become the Top Idol, I wonder.”

“Who decided it had to be that way!?” Honoka asked in frustration, unable to do anything to stop the fighting down below. 

“I understand. But you’re all desperate, are you not?” The mysterious alpaca asked. “You are school idols, after all.”

_“A memory that becomes faint and distant will disappear someday,_

_And as I tumbled against the headwind, I made a vow to myself.”_

As Umi took over the verse, she closed the distance between her and Maki, swinging at her with her dagger, but just as she was about to make contact, Maki grabbed onto an aerial ring that was swinging through the stage, making her escape, much to Umi’s annoyance. Swinging wildly through the stage, Maki took over the verse once more, and notched an arrow.

_“_ _I will not let you interfere, and until the world is turned to ash,_

_My passion will burn brighter than anyone else's..._ _”_

“Normal happiness, the joys of girls… You will burn it all to aim for a distant glimmer.” The alpaca spoke definitively. “This is what it means to be a school idol. Are you prepared to do that?” 

Honoka was conflicted about what to do. Looking down at the stage, she saw that Umi was in a pinch. Maki was dramatically sitting in her ring, firing arrows nonstop. Taking one of Maki’s arrows head on, Umi struggled against its force, only managing to barely stop the arrow from completely destroying the pin on her jacket, leaving it heavily disfigured but still intact. 

“That cloak?” Honoka asked. 

“If it falls off, that is the end of the revue.”

Another arrow came too quickly after the last, catching Umi off guard, and piercing the sleeve of her jacket. The force dragged her through the air, the arrow finding its place lodged in the boards of a wooden star, pinning it’s target completely. Her dagger dropping to the ground with a clutter, Umi’s back collided harshly with the wood, making her a sitting duck as the spotlight turned red. Maki, above the ground, sat on her aerial ring as she pulled out another arrow to finish the job. Her spotlight turned a clear blue to contrast Umi’s own red. The music was coming to a close, and victory seemed only natural now. 

_What do I do?_ Honoka thought. She couldn’t stand around and do nothing, but she was powerless from her position. Could she even _do_ anything? Did she have no choice but to watch powerlessly? 

“You cannot stop them. You are unable to wake up in the mornings without help. You do not care about being the main character. Now, please take your leave.” 

_No._ She wasn’t going to do that. After everything she’s seen, she couldn’t just leave Umi be like this. Even if she was powerless, if she couldn’t wake up in the mornings without help, she _needed_ to try something. Honoka wasn’t going to leave this story on this kind of ending! Not if she could help it. 

Giving the railing a squeeze one more time, she quickly climbed onto the seat behind the talking animal and jumped onto its back. 

“Huh?” 

She needed to get down there, and the best way was to get a boost, right? Taking one last deep breath, Honoka took a running leap off the alpaca’s back and began falling towards the stage, her back towards the ceiling. “Outta the way alpaca!” 

The floor lights twinkled mysteriously in Honoka’s eyes as she fell forward with a newfound determination. 

“I made a promise with Umi-chan,” Honoka began defiantly. “I will—no, _we_ will...” 

“Definitely become stars together!” 

What came afterwards could only be described as a blur to Honoka. The ribbon in her hair unraveled first, marking what the girl could only call a _self-remake_. Next came her clothes. Suddenly she was being outfitted with an entirely new garb that was being made from scratch just for her, all laid out in a white dresser.

A blue jacket with golden piping over a white buttoned shirt. A standing collar coupled with a golden tassel. A golden armband and matching epaulettes. A red kick-pleated skirt with an orange tulle dress tail and golden trimmed black boots. Make up was light, working only to accentuate and highlight. Honoka’s ribbon also returned as well, but now looked as new as when she first received it. 

The last items to complete her transformation was a red pelisse jacket with fur trimmings and gold piping, going over her left shoulder and held together by a white shoulder belt and golden aiguillette and button and her sword, a saber with an orange gem shining at its hilt. 

_I am reborn._

“On a stage overflowing with stardust, a flower of love blooms gracefully. Clad in a new me, I jump onto the shining stage!” 

On the darkened stage, Honoka stood proudly as a flurry of spotlights fanned across the stage, spreading over a wide area before disappearing to start its trajectory once more. Behind her, pink lights pulsated in time with the moving lamps. Honoka could hear the thrum of the engines working to power her entrance. A lone guitar took over over the sound, an entirely new section added to the piece. 

“Otonokizaka Academy, 99th generation, Kosaka Honoka!” 

The two former combatants gasped in confusion at the entrance of a new foe. A wall of lights shimmered behind Honoka as she swung her sword to strike her final pose in front of a newly placed prop of a star. 

“I’ll starlight you all!” 

On the ground, a path of light had appeared in front of Honoka, the floor lights all faced upwards, to highlight her way forward. 

Angrily, Maki notched an arrow into place, firing at Honoka. “Don’t get in my way!”

Leaping forward, Honoka easily deflected it with her sword, now running forward as the tempo quickly picked up to match her pace.

_“Because I believe that I, too, have a dream I cannot surrender_

_A quiet passion was ignited deep within my pounding heart just now…._ _”_

Pinned down, Umi could only stare and watch as Honoka made her way past all of Maki’s arrows, a trail of orange sparkle left in her wake as she came closer. 

“No… Honoka, stop!” she could only uselessly call. 

Her voice went on deaf ears as Honoka closed the gap between her and Maki, taking the button off of her jacket with only a single slice of her sword. Dropping her weapon, Honoka took the other girl’s hand, spinning her around and pulling her into a dip. The girl’s pelisse jacket slid off with ease, dropping onto her floor and covering her weapon as multiple spotlights rained down above to highlight the new revelation. 

Quickly the red curtains from before came down from above, closing in all around Maki, leaving her in the darkness of the backstage. In front of the curtains however, proudly stood Honoka. Planting her sword firmly into the pink T marking the center, she twirled once more as all of the blue spotlights directed their gazes onto Honoka, marking her victory as she loudly proclaimed, 

“Center position!” 

The music had now gone into a halftime feel as a lone electric guitar soloed over the orchestra.

“This marks the end of the first day of auditions.” The alpaca announced from the balcony.

Still riding the high of her earlier battle, Honoka stood in position, heavily panting. “Umi-chan!”

_I did it! I saved her!_

The stage had once again transformed, but this time to highlight Honoka’s victory. Large red curtains pooled and twisted around the main pillar of the stage, the wooden stars no longer suspended, but now caught in the fabric. The circle in which the center position was held rose up from the rest of the stage, red curtains and gold trim hanging from it. 

On the floor, Umi was still in her pinned position from before, now staring up at Honoka, bewildered. Instead of happiness on her face however, there was a look of frustration. She was now visibly shaking, her hands clenched on the floor. Sniffling, with tears in her eyes, she shouted.

“HONOBAKA!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 9/4/2/2020: i made a small edit to the middle of the chapter during the lunch portion


	2. Revue of Desire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revue of Desire:  
> Starring: NIshikino Maki, Kousaka Honoka

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry if yall waited a long time for this one, enjoy!

It was early morning. A hazy overcast lit up the well furnished Nishikino manor with a soft blue light which poured through the open curtains of a certain girl’s room. Inside, Maki Nishikino herself was up and awake, ready to start her day. 

Dressed in in workout gear, the girl quickly left her room, shutting the door and heading down the long hallway and stairs of her home. Her footsteps although small, reverberated throughout the entire manor. She wasn’t worried, however. Both of Maki’s parents were working the late-shift at their jobs. Both doctors in a high-end hospital, the Nishikinos were frequently out of the house, leaving Maki at home to do whatever she pleased.

And doing what she pleased she was. 

Leaving out the front door, she quickly checked if it was locked before leaving the house through her side gate. Maki began stretching, starting with her legs, then her arms. Taking in a deep breath, she began lightly jogging in place before moving forward. Running down the sidewalk, Maki went on a morning jog. 

Passing cars and early commuters, she felt the cool air pass her by and the morning mist stick to her skin as she jogged before taking a break in a nearby park. As she caught her breath, Maki thought back to the previous night's events. 

“ _Center Position!_ ” Honoka _claimed triumphantly over her opponents, raised higher than both her or Sonoda._

_I don’t get it! How is that fair at all?_

_Down from the ceiling, the alpaca descended from its seat to speak._ “ _This marks the end of the first day of auditions._ ”

From the dark backstage and swathed in curtain, she could only hear the muffled voices of the onstage cast. Faintly, she could hear the spotlights turn off. 

“ _Your participation in the auditions have been accepted._ ” But she wasn’t even supposed to be an opponent to begin with! As the two’s conversation went on, Honoka’s confusion only served to make Maki even angrier, as she clenched the fabric of her pelisse on the floor. _Why is she only being accepted now?_

However, before she could hear the end of the conversation, a sudden bout of drowsiness overtook Maki. The world around her grew darker and darker as tiredness overtook her body and she collapsed to the floor. 

She’d end up back in her bed the next morning. No uniform, no weapon, no stage of destiny. It was almost as if nothing had happened at all, and she had gone to bed regularly. The last thing she heard however still rang in her mind and reminded her it was all real; the words of the organizer behind their battles.

“ _Aim to become the top star. Sing, dance, and fight to win._ ”

____________________________________________________

  
  


Honoka was never good at waking up in the mornings, even worse when she had to do it herself. So when she practically sprang out of bed 10 minutes before her alarm rang, her parents and sister Yukiho thought she had gone insane.

And maybe she had. Maybe all of the fighting and singing was just an intense dream, and the freakishly tall alpaca telling her she’d be punished for spilling any sort of beans never really existed? Any way Honoka tried to reason it out of her mind didn’t work, and instead let out a groan of frustration. 

“Gah, what was any of that??” Honoka let out in a sort of frustration at not being able to rationalize the events that happened. 

“Sis, have you gone crazy? What’s with all the yelling? Mom’s gonna get mad you know.” Yukiho told her from the kitchen, to which Honoka gave a meek “Sorry,” followed by “And there’s nothing wrong with me!” once she realized she was being insulted. 

Even after leaving home and meeting with Kotori, the events of last night still hadn’t left her mind. She couldn’t even say anything to her friend! Lying was never the Honoka’s best trait, and at this point, she felt like she was going to burst. She knew there was only one person she wanted to talk about this to, and that was— 

“Is that Sonoda-san over there?” 

Perking up immediately at the sound of her friend’s name, Umi was stopped at the crosswalk, waiting for the cars to pass by. _Just who I wanted to see!_

“Umi-chan!” She ran forward to meet her, leaving Kotori behind and forcing her to run as well to catch up.

“Hey, about last night, with the alpaca and the theater and I had no idea that there was something like tha—” Honoka started rambling before getting cut off.

“Honoka, didn’t he say you’re not supposed to tell anyone?” Umi said coldly, goosebumps rising on the other girl’s skin at the thought of getting penalized by the alpaca living underneath their school. 

As the light finally turned and the cars stopped to allow the girls to cross, Umi strode ahead to school, leaving Honoka at the light, who was about to give chase before being stopped by the voice of Kotori, who finally caught up. 

“What was all that about Honoka-chan?” Kotori huffed out, her feathers metaphorically ruffled. Trying to mask the disappointment on her face, Honoka turned around to face her concerned friend. 

“It was… nothing! Don’t worry about it.” 

____________________________________________________

Ever since her defeat, Maki had taken to training more frequently. Morning and late night runs, lunchtime practices, and singing practice until she could no more. She had to get better; to keep working in order to surpass her own limits. She needed to be able to show _everyone_ her shine.

 _I want to be able to show them,_ Maki thought to herself as she went over the steps to the group’s newest song. She was on the rooftop of the school this lunch hour, practicing for the group’s upcoming performance in Akihabara the next week on Friday and today was Tuesday. Feeling the beat of the song in her head as the music played from her phone, she readied herself and got into position. Just as the chorus was about to begin, instead of her music, her phone’s ringtone began playing. 

Giving out a huff of annoyance and dropping her stance, she strode over to her phone to check her who was calling her. Reading the caller ID she was surprised to find out who was calling her. 

“Papa?” Why was her father calling during school hours? Did something bad happen at the hospital? 

Quickly answering the call, Maki held her phone up to her ear. “Hello?”

“Hello? Maki, you should be on lunch break now right?” In the background of the call, she could faintly hear chatter of other people, most likely coworkers of her father. 

“Yeah, I am. Where’s mama? Did something happen?” Maki asked. It wasn’t often that her parents called her. 

“I’m right here darling, we just wanted to call you to remind you about that offer the hospital put up a while ago,” Her mother said, taking over the call from her husband. “Remember? We talked it over about a month ago.” 

It was a student offer at the hospital Maki’s parents worked at put up a while back to let students shadow the workers for the day and get hands-on training. It was an offer for college students, but since her parents held important positions there, they were able to get the higher-ups to allow their daughter to join them. She remembers giving her parents a nonanswer, but honestly though, it hadn’t been in the forefront of her mind at all afterwards. The Akihabara live was planned and announced a few days later, and just recently the auditions had begun taking place. 

“I remember it, yeah.” Maki answered. _I do remember it was scheduled around the same time..._

“Well, your mother and I just wanted to remind you that it was next Friday, we would’ve told you at home but we’re both going to be working late shifts for a while.” Her father answered, taking his phone back from her mother. 

_Next Friday huh… Wait, next Friday?_

“I can’t go, remember?.” Maki said trepidly. “I have a performance that day. I had asked you both if you could come too. I had told you I couldn’t go.” For a quick second, there was silence on the other side of the phone before she heard the sound of her mother’s voice. 

“Ah… for your club? Right, well, I had thought of the great idea to already schedule for you to come,” Her mother responded airily, a little excited . “Is there any chance you can reschedule?”

“We’ve been practicing for a while! I can’t just drop—” Maki began to say before getting cut off by her mother.

“This is a once in a lifetime chance to get real experience for your future! The hospital doesn’t do things like this often. You’ll be glad to have the experience and information when you’re in medical school too. They were saying they’d even think about offering internships! Oh I just know you’re going to have so much fun!” Her mother on the phone said, not listening to what her daughter was saying.

“You’re mother’s right. I think this’ll be really good for you Maki.” her father chimed in as well, content to agree with his wife. “You know, these events are usually reserved for college students, but since I know you’re so studious, we managed to pull some strings here. So don’t go cancelling on us, or it’ll look bad on us, haha.” he joked. 

“But—” 

“Are you sure this club of yours isn’t getting in the way of your studies? You know we’re not afraid to crack down if we have to...” 

Talking in the background of the call interrupted their call. 

“Look we can talk about this more at home. Your mommy and daddy have to go get back to work now, okay? Have a good rest of your day honey. Oh and make sure you’re not skipping any of your lessons, okay? The tutor is coming around tomorrow.” 

The call stopped shortly after that. Letting out a sigh that she didn’t even know she was holding in, Maki’s hand that clutched her phone dropped to her side. What was she going to do? 

Maki had a deep respect for her parents. They gave a lot up for her comfort and happiness, and they gave her the freedom to do whatever she wanted, as long as she ended up joining them in the hospital in the future of course. For all of her life, Maki had lived her life according to their wishes but ever since she had joined μ’s though, she had slowly begun to change herself. Instead of denying music like she had done in the beginning, she began to embrace it instead. 

Her parents probably weren’t trying to be like this on purpose, but it was stifling to say the least. It was as if what Maki was saying was going through one ear and then out the other! What would it take for them to recognize that they were being so, so— overbearing? The thought of her parents essentially steam rolling over what she was trying to say painted a gloomy future for her. _What if this won’t be the last time they do this?_ she thought.

She stood there for a while longer, thinking about what she should do when she was suddenly pulled out of her thoughts by the swing of the rooftop door. In the doorway stood Honoka, seemingly not aware of Maki’s phone call, or her bad mood. 

“Maki-chan! I wanted to talk to you about last nigh—” 

“What happened last night was against the rules.”

“Huh?”

“I’m going to ask him to disqualify that round.” Maki clenched her hand around her phone. “Butting into fights that aren’t your own is unfair.” Her breaths became deeper, the fatigue of practice beginning to catch up to her. 

Honoka only seemed confused at her words. “Maki-chan did you know anything about what happened on that stage yesterday?” Now it was Maki’s turn to be confused.

“Huh? Didn’t you see it in the email?” 

“E-mail?”

“The one about the revues by the chosen stage girls. You didn’t get one?” Honoka only shook her head. 

“What are you talking about?” She asked.

“You weren’t invited?” Maki exasperated, her eyebrows scrunched first in confusion, than in anger. “Don’t screw with me!” 

“Why are you getting in the way if you weren’t even chosen in the first place?” Maki started. 

“I’m serious about this! Unlike you, I can’t—” 

_RING_

The bell signalling lunch’s end rang in the distance, cutting Maki’s statement off short. Her clenched hands turned white ages ago and she had worked up a small sweat from the two’s heated conversation. 

“Maki—”

“Let’s just head to class. Lunch is over.” Maki said coldly, striding past Honoka who quickly got out of her way. However, the first step she took out of the door almost sent Maki tumbling down steps. 

“Maki-chan?”

The world around began spinning as she collapsed to the floor, almost being sent down the stairs if not for Honoka, who caught her last second. Trying to regain her footing only served to make her more dizzy in the end, as she completely collapsed into Honoka’s arms. Uselessly moving her arms, she tried pushing herself off the floor. 

“Maki-chan! Are you okay? Stay with me! Get a hold of yourself!”

Sweaty and dizzy, Maki finally closed her eyes as the world faded to black. 

____________________________________________________

When Maki came to once more, she was greeted by the ceiling of the nurse’s office. The white sheets felt cool to the touch as she slowly became more aware of her surroundings. Focusing in on the ceiling, she stared at the corner of the ceiling, noticing the chipped edges as she stirred. 

“Hey, you awake?” 

Looking to the side, she saw Nico sitting to her side. The sky had gone a soft orange hue, filling the entirety of the room with sunset warmth. Had it already been that late? School was already over by the looks of it, meaning she’d missed practice. Sitting up quickly, she was stopped by the palm of Nico’s hand, holding back by her shoulder. 

“Hey, calm down! You were just passed out a few seconds ago.” Nico commanded

“I’m fine.”

“You shouldn’t lie like that. Anyways you should be overjoyed at the fact that _I_ , the universe’s number one idol, Nico-chan, have decided to nurse you back to health.” Nico announced haughtily. 

“It’s not like I asked you to stay here for me.“ Maki retorted roughly, brushing off Nico’s hand. 

“And it’s not like I asked you to randomly pass out from training too much either!” 

“You could’ve just gone to practice—” 

“Practice was canceled today.” 

Maki’s hand gripped the white bed sheets. Turning away, she took a deep breath to calm down, a deep blush of embarrassment on her face. A second of silence passed between the two before Maki spoke up.

“...Sorry. Thanks for staying here for me Nico-chan.” 

A surprised look crossed Nico’s face, not expecting the other girl’s admission of apology so quickly. While Maki wasn’t completely inept at telling others how she felt, she always did have a harder time than the others at expressing her feelings. 

“Y-yeah, it’s no problem for the greatest idol in the universe after all,” Nico spouted out, stuttering through her words.

Clearing her throat, Nico straightened her back, a serious expression on her face. “Well, did something happen? Between you and Honoka. When she brought you here, she wouldn’t come in.” 

“It’s nothing… I was just a little irritated.” Maki spoke softly, her nonstop training finally catching up to her. Feelings of tiredness and regret crashed down on her. _I didn’t mean to yell at her like that._

On the wall across from her hung a poster promoting this year’s school festival which Maki stared at intently. Beside it was a smaller flyer promoting their group’s own upcoming live concert in Akihabara. 

“Is it about that,” Nico said, turning her eyes to the posters. “Or is it something else?” 

Sighing, Maki answered. “They might as well be the same thing.” 

“I want to be able to shine. No matter how hard I work, there are others too far ahead,” Maki began, thinking to the other members of μ’s who were far ahead of her. The image of Eli popped into her mind. “But that doesn’t mean I can just give up just because of something like that. ”

“Maki...”

“I want to be a star.” If she could be the best that she could be, then she could show her parent’s she was serious. That she loved music and dancing and even though she’s grateful for everything her parent’s have done for her she doesn’t want to walk on a singular life path determined by them! 

At that point she felt something within her change. It was like she was standing up again after a hard fall. Like her name was finally being put on the leader board after her nameplate had been spinning for ages. 

“I was given a chance.”

“Huh?”

“I might be able to stand up there with my very own glimmer. At the center of the stage, in the middle of the spotlight.”

Turning away from the poster, Maki instead looked at Nico, giving her a smile. “I might be able to become one—a real star.” 

_RING RING_

____________________________________________________

“On a stage overflowing with stardust, a flower of love blooms gracefully.”

Standing back to back, Maki and Honoka rose onto the stage clad in fighting attire, a blinding light from the tower behind them flared past them, taking the shape of a four pointed star. Mirroring each other’s movements, the two raised their arms outwards to their sides, one then the other like a wave. A steady piano played, strings accompanying it that produced a melody of determination from both parties. A wall of lights behind them pulsing golden. 

“99th generation, Kousaka Honoka!”

Roaming spotlights all lined the floor in front of them before suddenly pointing at each other, creating a golden path in front of the duo. 

“I’ll starlight you all!”

The floor lights rapidly turned a shade of pink, confirming Hnoka’s resolve and pointing upwards, the path forward seen. 

“Everyone has their own destined star.” Maki began afterwards. “A twinkling star, a morning star, a falling star...” 

Back to back, they continued to mirror each other as Maki raised her hand to the ceiling as if to grab the very same stars she spoke of. The spotlights began to roam once more, turning a shade of blue.

“I may not be able to see my own star, but the me looking up will be gone tomorrow.” 

Turning to face the path laid out in front of her, she crossed her hand in front of her body. Honoka ran out from behind her; the battle was beginning.

“100th generation, Nishikino Maki!” 

The lights converged to form the shape of a star behind her. The points glowed brightly behind her as she turned to face Honoka. Two white spotlights shone down on the two figures, replacing the star. Looking down at her clenched hand, Maki stared thoughtfully at her bow, its red gem glistening in the artificial light. She thought back to her previous conversation. 

_“I thought I’d be eliminated after losing once.” She spoke confusingly._

_“School idols all have their own personalities,” the master of the auditions told her. “And these auditions are held to choose the top idol out of all of them.”_

The image of the beautiful pink light atop the tower twinkled in her memory as she sat in the audience of the alpaca. 

_“The top idol. That is the one who will stand on the stage of destiny. Emitting an infinite glimmer, they will transcend time to shine on. The eternal lead.”_

_“The eternal lead?” Maki asked. “If I become the top idol, will I be able to become the lead of my destiny?”_

The sound of a soloing french horn brought Maki back to the present, where she came face to face with her opponent.

“Maki-chan?” 

Pointing her weapon at her, Maki spoke. “This is our rematch, Honoka!” 

The entrance of the low brass filled out the sound as it marked the entrance of the center position marker. The stage it stood upon rose to the surface, a complicated system of pulleys working as fast as it could to bring it up. 

“Well then, today’s the second day of auditions.” The booming voice of the alpaca rang throughout the stadium. “The Revue of Desire is starting.” 

Honoka looked around confusingly as large monoliths rose upon the stage; mere props to their battle. Similarly, Maki was lifted away, carried by the moving props. 

“Aim to become the top idol.” Curtains flew down, obscuring Honoka’s view of Maki. A faint pink light emanated from behind them. “Sing, dance, and fight to win.”

Walking out from behind the velvet material, Maki began. 

_“For what reason,_

_Have I been enveloped in flames, when I had been held captive by fear for so long?_

_Now these flames will never extinguish...”_

The great monoliths behind her reflected the dim pink lights through their circular windows, casting a misty glow throughout the arena. “W-what’s happening?” Honoka asked, it was only her second battle; the shifting of the stage was still unbelievable. 

“I’ll become one, no matter what!” Maki said, determination flaring in her eyes. “I’ll become a star—the center!” Quickly notching an arrow into place, Maki fired away. Running forward, Honoka’s blade came into contact with an arrow. Swiftly deflecting it, she raised her blade to strike. Dodging the slash, Maki ran to the side in order to put distance between them. Diving into a roll, Maki quickly recovered, firing another arrow at Honoka who had slid to a stop. 

_“_ _Because I had nobody at my side to support me,_

_My struggle against the headwind set my heart aflame_

_Only the star knows what I desire!_ _”_

Shooting an arrow towards the ceiling, it caught the ropes of one of the props, promptly dropping the huge wall. The impact shook the floor greatly, and Honoka was temporarily blinded by the dust fall out. 

Behind the clear glass of the windowed prop, Maki stood. Running forward to meet her only to be met by a blinding flash of the window’s glare. Opening her eyes once more, Maki was no longer there behind the pane. 

“She disappeared?” 

Whipping her head around, Honoka searched for where the other girl would have disappeared to; the glass panes of the enormous props only reflecting back murky blue. 

Genuinely confused, Honoka asked aloud. “Maki-chan?” 

Unbeknownst to her, hidden in the scaffolding, a line of balck mannequins stood at attention. With black bodies and golden heads that reflected back whatever was in front of it, the human-like figures were clad in stark white doctor’s coats accompanied by stethoscopes hanging around their necks. 

Behind them hid Maki, an arrow at the ready. Letting her arrow fly through a broken window from above, the sound of the whooshing arrow signifying a scene change as Honoka whipped her head around to face the arrow. 

“I’ve spent my time doing nothing but studying for my parent’s sake,” Maki began. Around her was an entirely different scene. Rows of chairs and desks laid out before the eye could see; all filled with the same mannequins with almost nothing to distinguish them. Maki’s weapon poked out from behind one of the mannequins; the lights turned dark with only the glow of the girl’s weapon illuminating in the darkness. “But I finally found a sparkling dream.” 

“Not just being important or clever. My very own star.” 

Disappearing once more, Maki stood now hidden within the velvet seating of the audience, leaving Honoka only to frantically search for her.

“I finally came across it, after all this time.” While Honoka was left to search for her, Maki was poised to fire another arrow. 

“On that day, I was reborn… As a school idol!” 

With a tight grip on her bow, she let the arrow fly. Breaking the glass of another window, Honoka only barely managed to dodge the arrow. 

_“_ _Nobody can know whether the future I want is unattainable,_

_I have fought relentlessly against my own shadow_

_Only the star knows what I desire!_ _”_

A barrage of arrows rained down upon Honoka as she ran for cover. Running atop the concrete walls, she deflected multiple arrows before sliding down a toppled structure. Losing her balanced she used her momentum to instead dive into a roll, ducking behind another prop. 

Breathing heavily, she was unaware that Maki herself was hidden behind a column on the floor as well. 

_“_ _When the curtains rise, my future will surely come to me_

 _I cannot stay here, I must go farther_ _”_

Running out from beneath her cover, Honoka pursued the direction of the arrows only to be met with a mannequin. 

“A mannequin?!” _Where does she keep disappearing to?_ Honoka thought. 

Just as she finished her thought another slew of arrows came her way. Slashing her way through the arrows, she slowly made progress to Maki’s location atop a pillar. The sound of steel grinding against steel filled the arena. The orchestra grew frantic as it continued to crescendo. 

Seeing Maki jump down, Honoka sprinted around the side of the structure to meet her. The music came to a climax, the majority of the strings dropping out, leaving the melody of a piano accentuated by the crashes of percussion as the only accompaniment to the two’s duet. 

_“_ _I won't lose here!_ _”, “_ _You haven't lost!_ _”_

_“_ _I can't fail!”, “It's not a failure!_ _”_

What greeted Honoka was only another pile of mannequins; particularly one that swung out from behind the wall on a circus ring. 

“Another one?!” 

Hidden in the pile of mannequins, Maki was looking to snipe the button straight off of Honoka’s jacket.

“I refused to be overshadowed like this!” 

_“_ _You don't understand it”, “I don't understand it, but for that reason,”_

Once more, the arrow flew past Honoka, barely missing her but scattering hundreds of pieces of confetti seemingly planted within the ground. Golden sparkles rained down upon Honoka, distracting her enough for Maki to come out of hiding who rushed her down. Now leading the verse, Honka sang.

_“We can talk it over together—”, “The darkness of the night—”_

_“Until morning comes!”, “Grows deeper!_ _”_

“I can’t lose here! I won’t lose!” Striking with her bow, Maki came face to face with Honoka, who was struggling to push her back. “I _need_ to show them!” 

The words that came out of Maki’s mouth were shaky, but the grip on her bow was tight. The full orchestra came back in full swing joined by a high brass section, and underscored by a frantic drum set. It was a desperate feeling as tempo continued to pick up pace. 

_“_ _Everybody has a future—”, “And I am obscured by it, but that will not do!_ _”_

 _“_ _And dreams they have started to forget, ah”, “You cannot do anything—_ _”_

 _“_ _But even so,”, “All by yourself_ _”_

High above them, the giant wall used to obscure Maki’s movements started shaking. With a large back and force sway, the structure moved back and forth on its legs. As the two girls sang, it was like the force of their voices was moving the prop. 

Both of them had reason to be here. Unwavering in their passions, although the two girls had been battling, they had come together in song and dance. Their line, sung in unison reverberated loudly throughout the arena. 

_“I, too,”_

_“_ _Cannot afford to lose! | Want to fulfill my promise!_ _”_

The structure came down upon them due to the force of their voices. Luckily they were positioned in such a way that they both ended up within the broken window of the prop, unharmed. Large billowing dust clouds came from underneath the fallen prop, the force of the fall shaking the floor. 

Suddenly the stage was plunged into darkness as Maki quickly retreated as Honoka was still recovering the force of the fall. Standing at the edge of the fallen prop, the two girls began to make their final stand. Once more, most of the orchestra fell silent as a lone piano took over the melody accompanied by a cello. 

A single spotlight highlighted Maki as Honoka struggled to climb out from the crevice she landed in. 

“These auditions are a chance. I’m not letting this chance go. I can’t! I’m ending this!” 

As Maki fired an arrow straight for the button straight on Honoka’s jacket, the brass section returned to the piece highlighting the final climax of the song. Struggling against the force of the arrow, Honoka eventually was able to fling the arrow out of the way. 

“A single loss doesn’t mean it’s over! We can stand on the stage and perform however many times we want!” Honoka reasoned. Running=ng forward, she made her way to Maki, a spotlight now focused on her as well. 

“Passion and glimmer. I understand… That is the strength of a school idol.” hummed the alpaca, watching intently from the audience seating. 

_“_ _For the sake of one, just one, just a single promise,”_

“I’m not giving up. I’m a school idol!” Maki began running to meet the other combatant. This was going to be their last stand. The music revved up as the brass carried their sound far and wide. 

“I will become a star with Umi-chan!” 

_“If only the star knows what the future holds,”_

Putting all of her force into one last swing, Honoka cleanly cut through the aiguillette holding the other girl’s jacket around her shoulders, dropping it to the floor. Bringing her sword back to cross her arm over her chest, her sword proudly pointed to the ceiling. Confidently, her lone voice ran throughout the arena with conviction.

_“I will quietly look toward the sky and reach out to it!_ _”_

Quickly, curtains engulfed the stage as the performance ended. Maki once more sat on her knees in awe backstage. Both spotlights now rested on Honoka. Quickly plunging her sword into the center position’s marker, she twirled before standing proudly, hands on both hips. 

“Center position!”

A lone piano quietly played until the songs end, signifying that the revue was over.

“This marks the end of the second day of auditions.” bellowed the alpaca from on high. 

“I wondered why that girl wasn’t chosen from the start. But now I understand. They share the same fate.” the alpaca said cryptically, its words unheard by everyone else’s ears. 

Down on the stage, Maki sat with her knees to her chest underneath the curtains. 

“I lost again.”

Suddenly lights filled her vision, and when she looked up, Honoka was there, holding up the curtain for her. 

“Hey, nice job.” she said uncertainty, with a nervous wave.

Sighing, Maki spoke. “Maybe I’m overthinking it...”

“Huh?”

“I mean, the single-minded approach seems more powerful.”

“What? Simple-minded? That’s mean!” Honoka exasperated. Coming out from under the covers, Maki strode to the center of the stage. Turning to her, Honoka spoke.

“Hey, Maki-chan, I have something to give you actually.”

Maki raised a single eyebrow in confusion. “What?”

Coming forward, she pulled something out of her pocket. It was a piece of folded up paper. She unravelled it to reveal a somewhat crude drawing of two doctors on the front, both with dark red hair, accompanied by large handwritten text at the top saying: _AKIHABARA LIVE/PARENT DISCOUNT!_

“What’s that? I don’t get it.” The girl turned her head at the makeshift flyer for their live.

“It’s a poster! Kotori-chan and I had the idea to make some for our parents, so they could see our show as well. I put a discount on there even though the live is free to go to, but I was thinking this could increase the chances of some of the busier parents coming. Kotori-chan did most of the good drawings though, eheh… Sorry, I did this one.” Honoka said, scratching at her cheek with her finger. 

A few moments of silence passed. Afraid that she didn’t like it, Honoka began speaking rapidly, “Well, I know its not good and all, but—”

“Pfft—” The sound of Maki’s quiet giggles left Honoka slack jawed. 

“W-what?”

“We could’ve all just taken a regular poster home, you know.”

Completely dumbfounded, Honoka sputtered out her words. “W-well, these ones are special! Your parents are doctor’s right? See, I put them on the front!” 

“Thanks, Honoka.”

“Eh?” 

“I’ll give it my all until the end. I’ll aim to become a star with all my might. Right?” Taking the flyer from out of Honoka’s hand, she carefully folded the paper up and placed it in her pocket. 

“Wahhh Maki-chan, so earnest!” 

“W-what are you talking about? I don’t get it.” Her face redder than a tomato, she turned away from Honoka. 

“L-let’s just go already!”

“Okaaay!”

____________________________________________________

On the other side of the stage, were two other girls, finished with their battles. Kneeling down, one girl looked up to the victor, her jacket discarded. Cracked columns and spraying water casualties in their battle. With glistening hair and clear eyes, the other girl placed her sword onto the winner’s podium, the center position marker. 

“A dream is not something you have, but something you assert. There’s only one star shining at the top.”

There was no malice in her voice; she spoke as if she was only stating a fact. The light of the tower stood above her, in her reach and casted its glow upon her. 

“This is Ayase Eli.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i kinda had a hard time writing out the conflict between maki's parents so it took a while  
> writing all the dialogue about stars was kinda awkward knowing theres another character in love live with star in her name but whoops


	3. Revue of Pride

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Revue of Pride  
> Starring: Ayase Eli, Kousaka Honoka

After school had ended, and the glow of the sunset was cast upon the school, Umi had taken Honoka to the field. 

“You heard about the auditions, right?” 

Raising her eyebrows in surprise before lowering them to the ground, Honoka spoke in a hesitant voice. “Well, Maki said they’re revues by the chosen school idols.” 

“That’s right. So you should drop out, Honoka.”

“Huh?”

“You weren’t chosen because you don’t have enough glimmer.” Umi said, her voice steadily raising. “Someone like that shouldn’t be disrupting our auditions.”

Afterwards she turned to walk away, but was stopped in her tracks when the abrupt voice of Honoka rang out.

“No way!” Taking a deep breath, she continued. “I’m not dropping out of the auditions! I mean… my heart was racing!” She gave Umi a pleading look.

“If, just if… on the stage we promised that we’d stand on together, someone else was already standing there… if I can’t surpass them, then we won’t be able to stand on the same stage!”

“Honoka...”

“Ever since you came back, I’ve been feeling like I’ve finally woken up from a daze.” Clutching the bow in her hair, the wind quietly shook the trees and blew through Honoka’s hair. 

“Becoming stars together… In order to make that dream come true, I guess. Anyways, Umi-chan, I want to Starlight with you!”

The mention of the very song that started their love of music made Umi go wide eyed at Honoka’s declaration, her eyes twinkling in the sunset.

_RING RING_

____________________________________________________

During lunch, students usually liked loitering around hallways. Every hallway and classroom you looked in, there’d usually be any kind of group of students eating lunch, and this wasn’t even counting the amount of students who ate outside. Yes, there was regular student activity happening throughout the entire school.

Except for one lonely hallway, with one empty doorway, sandwiched between two inconspicuous bulletin boards. 

Within that empty doorway, stood the newest transfer student to Otonokizaka, Sonoda Umi. All alone, she had come to this hallway. It seemed unless you were a part of the auditions, the existence of this hallway was moot. She was sure that Honoka would be looking for her right about now, but what she was about to do wasn’t for her ears. Stepping forward into the darkened space, she lightly touched the metal elevator doors, the cool metal sending shivers through her arm. 

“So it seems you can’t get in until the performance starts.”

Pressing her hand fully against the metal, she continued. “You can hear me, right?”

“Remove Honoka from the auditions. She shouldn’t be there. She’s a nuisance.”

“I understand.” The floaty echoes of the alpaca’s voice made its way up from down below. Whatever it was doing down below all day, it was ready and willing to answer the girl’s questions. The sound of a small clamor reached Umi’s ears. _“I made a promise with Umi-chan!”_

 _A recording?_ Umi thought to herself as she gasped to herself.

 _“I will—no, we will… definitely become stars together!”_

“She’s already a participant.”

Umi responded to the alpaca’s answer by slamming her hand against the elevator doors in a small fit of anger, before retracting her hand. Her eyebrows scrunched up in worry for the other girl before whispering to herself. 

“Idiot… Honobaka!”

“Well, who do we have here?” A voice came from behind, interrupting her train of thought. 

Frantically turning out of surprise, Umi came face to face with Nozomi. In her hand was a lunch box covered in a light purple cloth. She tried quickly hiding her surprised face.

What was she doing here? She had overheard earlier that she hadn’t come to school, but now she was standing in front of Umi like nothing was wrong?

“Sonoda-san, or can I call you Umi-chan? We are a part of the same group after all. You can call me Nozomi too.”

“Nozomi...san.” 

“Ahah, well we can work on it I suppose.” Nozomi answered with an easy going grin. 

The third year was an incredibly laid back girl, always going with the flow from what she had observed, but she could tell there was more beneath that surface. She likely knew more than she let on. 

“Are you looking for something?”

Quickly, she answered. “I got lost. That’s it.”

“I see then. Oh yeah,” Nozomi said, bringing her lunch up. “Let’s go eat lunch together. I’m sure Honoka-chan’s been looking everywhere for you anyways.” 

Not one to be rude to a senior, Umi took a deep breath and nodded instead of refusing. “Alright.” 

Letting herself be led out of the hallway, they walked in relative silence with Nozomi talking the lead. It was an awkward situation, but the older girl seemed to take Umi’s silence in stride. Umi on the other hand, only following from behind, answering only when addressed. 

To be honest, Umi didn’t know what to make of Nozomi. Out of everyone, she seemed the most elusive. And she seeked her out in _that_ hallway. _Did she have a goal here?_ Umi thought to herself.

Eventually reaching the outside of the school, they reached a shaded bench underneath a tree. Quickly making herself at home, Nozomi sat herself onto the bench as if crashing onto her bed, breathing a sigh before patting the spot next to her to which Umi made sure to seat herself a sizable distance away from.

“So, how are you adjusting to school Umi-chan?” 

“Yes, I’ve been doing alright.”

“And being a school idol?”

“That as well.”

“That’s good to hear,” Nozomi smiled, pulling her lunchbox out of its cloth. Quickly saying her prayers, she began to eat. “You’re so good at singing and dancing after all! You must really want to be a school idol. You even said yes on the spot when Honoka-chan asked you!”

Umi only narrowed her eyes at her insinuation before asking what was on her mind. “Why are you doing this?”

She should be the last person to seek out at school. What about the other members of the group, they were much better friends with each other, especially the other 3rd years, unless...

“Eh? What are you talking about, Umi-chan? I can’t want to socialize with my underclassmen?” Letting out a small laugh, she took another bite of her lunch.

“Don’t be so cold, I’ve got no ulterior motive—”

“Nozomi-san, why didn’t you show up to school this morning?” Nozomi only quirked her eyebrow before quickly relapsing into one of neutrality, if a little mischievous. 

“Haha, I guess you could say I had a case of third year laziness,“ Nozomi explained in between bites of her lunch. “Hey, I’m here now aren’t I? Ah, do you maybe want some of my lunch Umi-chan?” 

Ignoring her question, she sighed before standing up, her long hair obscuring her facial expressions. “...You mustn’t skip classes, Nozomi-san. You are the vice president of the student council, correct? It doesn’t look good if you get caught in a lie.”

A look of genuine surprise flashed on Nozomi’s face, her eyes widening. Turning to walk away, Umi stopped to take out a small object out of her pocket, placing it beside Nozomi before walking away. However, she only got a few yards before being stopped by the sound of laughter bursting through the air. 

“Hahaha!” Turning back around, she was greeted by the sight of Nozomi doubled over in laughter and responded with her own look of surprise. “I get why Honoka-chan likes you so much now!” Regaining her composure, she wiped a small tear away.”You know, you’re not such a good liar either Umi-chan. I really think you should be honest with your feelings.”

Seeing what happened after brought surprise to Nozomi. Umi’s face had contorted in embarrassment and astonishment. Eyebrows scrunched together as she was left agape, her face had turned the shade of Maki’s hair and she was left stuttering as she spun on her heel to walk away.

“M-Make sure to recoup your strength properly Nozomi-san. Goodbye.” 

Seeing her walk away, a small smile graced the older girl’s features. Looking to her side, was a finely wrapped piece of sweets. Recognizing the logo on the wrapper as the Japanese sweets shop Honoka’s family owns, she picked it up, quickly popping the tasty treat into her mouth.

“What a cute girl...” 

“Nozomi?”

Suddenly on alert, Nozomi whipped her head around towards a head of blonde hair that came into view as Eli came to meet her. 

“Where have you been all day?” Eli asked, concern in her voice. “It’s not like you to miss school.”

“Ah,” Nozomi blurted out a little too quickly before regaining her cool demeanor. “I can’t believe I’d oversleep like this! Sorry.” Nozomi said, putting her hands together and sticking a tongue out. 

“You don’t have to apologize, you know. Last night was tough.” 

“Last night, huh...” Nozomi muttered to herself, recalling the events of prior.

_It ended all at once for Nozomi. Her button flying high into the air, her jacket sliding off her body and dropping to the floor. The ends of her purple hair hung in the air as she was suspended in a low dip. The bombastic ending of their revue song. Eli’s face, barely breaking a sweat as her arms strongly held her waist._

“Well, you sure put me in my place Eli-chi,” Nozomi jested.

“You don’t have to put it like that...” Eli exasperated, her eyebrows drawing together with a small smile. 

“But, you know...” Nozomi murmured lowly. 

Not quite hearing what she had said, a small questioned sound was all that left Eli’s throat before Nozomi’s hand came up to her cheek. Giving it a quick caress before moving to brush her hair away from her face, Nozomi moved closer, their faces only centimeters apart before moving to whisper in her ear.

“I haven’t lost.” 

“Right.” Eli said right back at her, with equal fervor, a confirmation of their challenge.

____________________________________________________

“Alright, we’ve got plans for this year’s school festival from the Student Council.” Eli announced at practice. A chorus of oohs went around the group as Eli passed out papers to the group. It was the end of practice for today. It was a short day for the most part, and the sun had not set yet.

“Make sure to read them carefully, our time slots and everything are on here.” Nozomi added. 

“They sure are prepared this year.” Nico said, scanning the paper for their group’s times with a scrutinizing eye before passing the paper off the Maki. 

“Well, I’m not surprised. After all, the school still needs to do everything they can to. impress parents.” Maki remarked. 

“Pfft— I knew that!” Nico insisted, trying to save face. 

“No you didn’t, nya!” Rin snickered beside Hanayo, who smiled beside her.

“I’m sure Nico-chan is just as excited as the rest of us right?” Hanayo said sweetly. 

“Here, Umi-chan!” Honoka said enthusiastically, holding out the piece of paper to the other girl, who calmly took the paper from her. 

“Oh yeah, along with the first years, this’ll be your first school festival at Otonokizaka, right? U-Umi-chan.” Kotori said, trailing off at the end. In an attempt to bring the group closer, the third years had strongly encouraged the usage of first names with the members of the group. The group had gotten used to it eventually, but with the addition of Umi, it had been like starting over for some of the shyer members. 

“Yes.” 

“Well what I wanted to talk about this practice was the Drama Club’s showing of Starlight happening at the festival.” Eli explained in an attempt at getting the group back on track. “As you know, they want us to perform a rendition of the song Starlight for their ending.”

Everyone immediately perked up at the mention of the song. A sort of determined silence fell over the group, except for Rin, who only held a puzzled look on her face.

“What’s Starlight again, nya?” 

While everyone else only showed slight confusion at Rin’s lack of knowledge, Hanayo seemed the most aggrieved. Honoka was the first to speak up.

“You don’t know a—” 

“You don’t know about Starlight!?” Hanayo said frantically, cutting off Honoka. “Well, it’s gotta be one of the most well known songs in the idol industry ever! It’s a classic!”

Grabbing Rin’s hands, she continued her rant, all the while slowly getting closer to Rin and increasing in volume.

“It was originally adapted from a play of the same name, and was first sung by a super famous idol duo! It took off from there, and more and more idol groups began to cover it!” 

The rest of the group could only watch as Hanayo continued her enthusiastic tirade.

“—And then, an eight membered version of the song was popularized in the early 2000s by this school idol club in Osaka that was more true to the story of the play! And there was even this super radicalized version done more recently by a school idol named Asaka Karin over in Odaiba as well—”

“Kayo-chin, I get it! I remember now!” Rin finally whined, which quickly shut Hanayo up, who had retreated in embarrassment. 

“Haha, Hanayo-chan. Don’t be embarrassed, you’ve got some really interested listeners,” Nozomi pointed out, putting a reassuring hand on the embarrassed girl’s shoulder and glancing over at Honoka, who had lights in her eyes over the history of Starlight. Apart from her, Nico was trying to feign interest, but was having a hard time doing so, purposely looking away from Nozomi. 

“And hey, while you’re on the topic, why don’t you tell them your announcement? We were just getting to that anyways.” Nozomi proposed reassuringly.

“Ah, okay! Everyone,” Hanayo took a deep breath as everyone listened intently. “I’ll be working with the Drama Club on the script writing for Starlight!”

Questions and congratulations erupted throughout the rooftop for Hanayo, save from Umi who sat there quietly.

“Hanayo-chan, do you think the Drama Club’ll let me take a peek at their costumes?” Kotori wondered. “It’ll be great for our performance too.”

“Since Hanayo will be on script-writing, she can help us communicate to the Drama Club, as well let us in on any details we should be adding into our performance. I’m sure the Drama Club will be able to fill any requests we have.” Eli concluded.

“Well, since the festival is so far away, we shouldn’t stress about it too much. We need the approval of the Drama Club anyways.” Nico added.

“Wow, how eloquently said! For you anyways Nico-chan.” Maki teased. 

“Hey what’s that supposed to mean!?” Nico demanded. 

The conversation eventually devolved into the regular banter seen every practice. Laughter resonated throughout the rooftop and everyone was having the fun they did everyday. Except for one person.

____________________________________________________

  
  
  


“Umi-chan?” Honoka asked confusingly. Right now she was sitting down in one of the gym storage units out on the field. Her hands were tied behind her back with zip ties that dug into her wrists. At the door stood Umi, a crowbar in her hand. 

“What’s happening? What’s this? Did I do something to make you mad?” 

Umi looked at Honoka’s pleading face, her lip quivering the tiniest bit before quickly turning her face out of view. 

“WaitwaitwaitUmi-cha—” The loud slam of the door reverberated in the small room, the shock blowing Honoka’s hair back. After a second, she let out a great sigh. 

“Umi-channnn!” She pleaded one last time. “What about dinner?”

____________________________________________________

Kotori was packed up and ready to head home for the day. She had a decent amount of homework she wanted to finish tonight, alongside a mountain of dress designs she wanted to finish. Pricking up her bag, she looked around the rooftop.

“Honoka-chan?”

To her surprise however, the rooftop was empty. Honoka was nowhere to be seen. She remembered everybody else leaving, but Honoka’s familiar slowness to pack up wasn’t found on the rooftop. How odd, she was always begging Kotori to wait for her, so where was she now?

“So it seems you’ve been left behind too huh?” 

Pulled out of her thoughts, she turned to face the familiar voice.

“Nico-chan? What are you still doing here?” Kotori asked. Usually she’d already be walking home with the other third years or Maki.

“Same thing as you Kotori-chan.” Nico huffed. “Eli and Nozomi already left together and Maki-chan said Rin-chan wanted to talk to her or something.”

“Ah.” Kotori said. 

“Well, since we’re already together, I’ll let you have the pleasure of walking home with me,” Nico said in her usual grandeur. 

Kotori just smiled at her antics. “Yeah,” she responded easily.

It wasn’t as if she _didn’t_ want to walk home with Nico or anything, Nico was always a fun girl to talk to, not to mention they could always go over more costume designs too, she was just a bit worried about Honoka was all. 

“Kotori-chan, you shouldn’t be worried about Honoka-chan.” Nico said, sensing the other girl’s tension. “She may be an idiot, but you don’t need to worry about her so much.” 

“Well, I guess I should be worrying more about you.” Nico muttered under her breath, to which Kotori didn’t hear.

“Eh?” After a quick second of pause where she looked like she was deliberating something, Nico suddenly pointed at the younger girl.

“C’mon Kotori-chan! Let’s go hit the mall real quick, I wanna check out some stuff for our perfor—”

_RING RING_

____________________________________________________

_RING RING_

Sitting outside the door of the gym storage, Umi sat solemnly. Her phone buzzed in her pocket. The small jingle repeated over and over until Umi pulled it out of her pocket. The slowly spinning logo of the audition’s orchestrator struck a feeling of uneasiness in her. Scrolling down, the text below read _NO PARTICIPATION TODAY._

She was free today to what she needed then. 

“Careful, careful...” 

Umi closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath.

“Tiptoes, tiptoes...” 

Quickly getting up, Umi walked around to the back to check the noise. What she found was an open window, and a hastily tied together rope hanging from the opening. Looking forward, Honoka was dashing forward towards the school grounds, each crunch of grass becoming softer and softer as she ran into the distance. 

Umi shook herself out of the stupor before sprinting after her to try and catch up.

“Honoka! Stop! HONOKA!” 

“Sorry Umi, I gotta go!” Honoka shouted behind her as she slid into the hallway, barely toppling over before reaching the elevator button, and slamming the button. 

“I’ll be back once I win!” The familiar alarm sounded and the light above the doorway turned red in caution. 

Just as Umi had caught up however, the elevator quickly sped away, only to be replaced by another identical doorway. Quickly catching her breath, she grit her teeth and furrowed her eyebrows in determination before running back to the field to retrieve her crowbar.

____________________________________________________

“On a stage overflowing with stardust, a flower of love blooms gracefully.” 

The red curtains of the revue drew back to reveal a darkened stage, where one lone girl’s voice rang out into the distance. At the start of her voice, the multitude of lights traveled the stage in precise movements to Honoka’s intro. Ominous sounding strings repeatedly went up the scale while the low tones of a piano played a two note riff, a certain gravity filling the stage. The wall lights behind her pulsated as she announced herself. 

“99th generation, Kousaka Honoka!”

With a swing of her sword, the floor lights all pointed upwards to the ceiling, lighting her path forward. 

“I’ll starlight you all!”

Two spotlights reached down upon her only for a second, before traveling upwards. Following the light’s path, she looked upwards to see her opponent.

“The radiance of the moon, the love of the stars.”

The spotlights now followed the descending path of Ayase Eli, resting on a beautiful display of a swan. Her outstretched rapier glittered in the spotlight and her hair swayed gently in the wind. The strings had all quieted down now, leaving a single drawn out note, it too waiting for Eli’s descent. 

“Having gathered a multitude of lights, I will now deliver them to your heart.” 

Gracefully jumping onto stage, the strings came back in, a bombastic piano sounded throughout the stage.

“Head of the 98th generation, Ayase Eli.”

A circle of spotlights formed on the outer ring of the stage, and circled in a counterclockwise manner in order to converge onto the center, where the third year girl stood. 

“On this night, I will deliver brilliance unto you!”

Honoka readied herself, smiling while gripping the handle of her sword tightly. “Eli-chan!”

While the battle was just beginning, outside stood Umi, still at the elevator’s entrance. Having gotten her crowbar, she was repeatedly striking at the doors, desperately hoping they would open. The door however, would not budge. 

Taking a deep breath, she evaluated her options before looking up at the light. Taking a step back, she put her whole force into her swing, smashing the lightbulb completely. Shattered glass clang to the floor while the light above turned an emergency red. Soon a buzzer went off, and the elevator doors slid open smoothly. A long staircase descended downwards, seeming endless. Quickly entering, she descended the stairs where she could hear the sounds of the revue starting.

“Now then, today marks the third day of auditions,” the low rumblings of the alpaca said. “The Revue of Pride is starting.” 

A golden chandelier held upon a chain slowly lowered down onto the stage, setting the scene for the two girls; it’s flame a deep pink. Their scene was one of elegance. A wooden backdrop was painted with an elegant staircase, the very tops painted a curtain of red with a large golden emblem of a swan. Swords at the ready, a lone piano took the melody as the girls stood across from one another. 

_“I should be able to see,”_

Both girl’s eyes were closed as Honoka started the first verse; long stretches of notes bringing a feeling of tension alongside a haunting piano as Honoka sang to a slower tempo. As soon as her line was done, Eli cut in to respond.

_“No, you should not see,”_

As if fighting for the lines, they came together to sing in unison.

_“_ _The view from the top of that tower._ _”_

Bringing their hands out, they crossed paths before turning to face each other once more with their eyes open. The music came to a rest as both girls readied themselves. Suddenly a timpani roll marked a transition into a faster tempo as Honoka struck first, closing the distance between the two as she sang. 

_“_ _What lies in your heart?_

 _What do your twinkling eyes seek?_ _”_

Honoka repeatedly struck at Eli, only for her sword to be deflected. Eli only kept a serious look on her face while defending, not even breaking a sweat. There was no trace of struggle on her part as they crossed swords, even her grunts seemed controlled against Honoka’s, which were louder by comparison. The strikes of their blade lit up the room as sparks flew. As Honoka executed a downward slash, her sword was only met by nothing as Eli gracefully twirled away from her, and countered with her own slash. 

Spinning herself, Honoka attempted to put all of her strength into one slash, hoping to turn the tide, only to be met with Eli’s overwhelming force. 

_“_ _I still can't reach that star, but_

 _For the sake of that promise,_ _”_

The sheer knockback of the clash caused both girls to jump back. This only slightly deterred them as Honoka quickly continued her advance. The chandelier now stood directly in their path, but both girls had no qualms, trying to strike their opponent through the candle’s lights. Dodging one of Eli’s pokes, Honoka quickly returned the favor by slashing through the chain which held the chandelier. 

_“_ _I'll keep on charging ahead!_ _”_

As the chandelier dropped to the floor, the deep pink of the light turned a bright blue. Honoka’s swing was once more deflected, neither girl willing to pull back. The music calmed down once more, this time to let them speak.

“Honoka, why are you participating in this revue?” Eli asked, her sword still as stone as Honoka sword struggled against hers.

“Why? Because, together with Umi—” 

“Together?” Eli questioned. “If you pluck a small star, you will gain a small amount of happiness. If you pluck a large star, you will obtain a great wealth.”

Instantly, Honoka recognized that line. “That’s from Starlight!”

“In exchange...” Eli whispered ominously as the strings picked up a frantic pace. Quickly changing the direction of her sword, the older girl was able to catch Honoka off guard. Stumbling, Honoka yelped, only narrowly being able to dodge Eli’s strike, which went directly through the flames and extinguishing them. The stage now was bathed in darkness, aside from the far away star of the crown. 

“What have you offered?” came Eli’s voice, but she was no longer in front of her. _She had disappeared?_ Frantically searching around, she couldn’t find the older girl. The music slowed down pace once more.

Little did she know, Eli had disappeared to the back of the set, waiting for the real show to begin. Turning her sword around, she kissed the gem on her rapier’s pummel, watching as the faint blue glow emitted marked the beginning of a new act. The piano returned, its low notes creating an arpeggio of forbidding wonder. 

Behind Honoka, the fake set had come apart and was being replaced, with pillars of seemingly very real marble. The thrum of machines working overtime filled Honoka’s ears and shook her body. Very real staircases began to rise, with meticulously crafted swans all carved onto them. At the top rose a platform with the only source of light, and Eli atop it as she sang, her arm raised above her. 

_“_ _The call of the goddesses, the heavenly throne,_

 _The star soaring down is but one._ _”_

Bringing her arm down slowly in a show of performance, suddenly a heavy brass punctuated the score. Moving her arm to the beat, as if she was a conductor, the tempo quickly picked up once more as the strings came back in at a hectic pace. Fireworks blasted from behind her, changing colors from blue to red; Eli was completely unfazed. Spotlights shone down upon her as a giant golden statue of a swan appeared behind her. 

Honoka could only gasp at the change in sets. Before, their stage was relatively flat, but Eli had managed to turn the tides so much that the stage bent to her will entirely! She stood atop a grand staircase, where she lay at the base. 

A heavy drum set kicked in alongside an electric bass and guitar, the curtains for the _real show_ were now opening. 

The entire time, Umi could hear the battle go on, but could only run across scaffolding in an attempt to reach them and stop it. _Don’t do it Honoka!_ She thought desperately.

_“_ _Come climb up here, if you have the resolve._

_Try to tear me down, show me your fury._

_Do not be at the mercy of the beast that lies within you!_ _”_

Eli’s voice resounded throughout the theater. The feeling of the song changed the second she started singing. As Honoka climbed up the stairs to meet her, Eli had descended with a terrifying jump, her body language and expressions in control while Honoka sweated. The stage was filled with light as they clashed swords once more, but this time with a crucial difference. 

With Eli taking the offensive, Honoka was getting pushed down the stairs. Every attack she made only concluded with it getting blocked. As the frantic girl took a swing at Eli, in an upset move, she took her free hand and pushed Honoka away, using it as an opportunity to try and strike her down. Narrowly avoiding her button, Honoka lost even more ground against the girl. Continuing to descend the stairs, in a potent strike, Eli knocked the sword out of her hand as she flew backwards. 

_“I_ _have no need for those who lack willpower,_

 _I want you to show you are fighting with your pride on the line!_ _”_

Quickly catching herself, Honoka grabbed hold of her sword and came back with a swing, only to be met with a shifting stage. _Now the stage’s working for her?_ Honoka thought exasperatingly.

The entire staircase had split into different parts; Eli’s side moving upwards as Honoka descended. The now split sections of white staircase moved disorientingly, and in multiple directions. A single spotlight continued to shine on Eli as her piece of staircase rose ever higher, leaving Honoka at the bottom. the piece transitioned into a new section of piano solo. 

“There is but one star on the stage. Desire it, starve for it, thirst for it, fight for it.” As Eli monologued from above, pieces of staircase began to align with hers, leading her to the golden statue at the top. Marble pillars rose ever higher. “She made a sacrifice. _She_ cast it away!”

As Honoka climbed the stairs, flipping over gaps, she came closer to her destination, and so did Umi. 

Finally getting close enough to the stage, Umi cast aside her crowbar, running past a multitude of costumes. Both the brass and the strings played a flurry of notes, staccatoed to match the intensity of the batte. 

“That is the noble spirit of one who challenges the stars. That’s precisely why I will...” 

But as Eli spoke, the brass dropped out to leave the driving strings that climbed ever higher before dropping out completely. 

“Karen!” Umi screamed out. 

_“_ _Going higher, shining brighter._

_I will illuminate the horizon!”_

As the entire orchestra came back in, the sound seemed almost overwhelming. It dripped of power, of might, herculean almost. A choir alongside blasting trumpets came in as Eli sang, her voice powerful enough to shake the walls. The staircase beneath them lit her way as she readied her sword; a burst of flames emitting from the swan statue’s wings. 

Stage lights now filled the entire stage, the climactic battle needing to be seen by everyone. Jumping down the stairs, Eli now only played with Honoka, deflecting and parrying strikes with ease, much to Honoka’s struggle. Getting closer to her, Eli took her free hand to caress Honoka’s face before pulling back.

_“A single step forward is a step closer to my dream,_

_That is pride!_ _”_

Jumping onto the railing in an attempt to gain an advantage, Honoka found the action proved useless as Eli herself climbed onto the railing, and thrust her sword forward in a powerful attack. 

_“_ _Going higher, shining brighter_

 _Towards unreachable heights,_ _”_

Losing balance, Honoka fell onto the stairs, but instead of gaining her footing on the steps, she felt herself sliding downwards at an increasing rate with a yelp.

The steps of the stairs had disappeared! What was left was a smooth ramp downwards, and as Honoka began to try and center herself, she felt herself suddenly stopped by the feathered body of a swan; the same one Eli had arrived on. Two lights attached to the railings of the stairs shone on her.

_“_ _That is my pride!_ _”_

_The top idol,_ Honoka thought. _I can’t reach her!_ She lay helpless at the bottom of the stage, the lights attached to the railings all pointed upwards, flashes of hot light catching in her eyes and feathers raining down upon her.

As Umi approached the theatre door, she spent no time waiting in front of the door, pushing the doors open quickly. But as Umi opened the doors, instead of the bright lights of the stage she was greeted with, she was instead greeted by the darkness of the outside world. She was at the front of the school! But why? Rain beat down upon the building as Umi stared in shock, her breathing feeling erratic and her legs feeling as if they would drop at any second. Umi could only stare in disbelief as she became drenched in rain. 

Back on stage, Honoka had picked herself back up. She needed to make one final push! The stairs had reformed, allowing her to make her attempt. An electric guitar soloed loudly over the staccatos the rest of the orchestra was playing while Eli stood at the top menacingly. The two clashed swords for what Eli knew would be the final time judging by the look on her face, and once more Honoka was pushed down the staircase. The lighting turned red as Eli made her final attack. 

“Even alone, I am a star!” 

In one final attack, a powerful downward slash took the button off of Honoka’s jacket completely; the gold metal flying high into the air while the frayed string of the aiguillette fell to the floor. Sparks from the clash flashed before Honoka’s eyes as she fell backwards. 

The center position marker, now appearing in front of her, Eli gracefully planted her sword as the other girl’s jacket slipped off completely to the bombastic final notes of the song. 

“Center position. This is Ayase Eli!” 

The curtains closed behind Eli, leaving Honoka in a state of shock as another layer of curtain came down behind Eli. Immediately after a larger than life spotlight shone on Eli, blowing up her silhouette on the red background to proportions larger than Honoka had ever seen. 

“There is only one star that shines at the top. Harasho.” 

____________________________________________________

Outside the school doors, Honoka came face to face with Umi. 

“Umi-chan. I lost,” Honoka said. There wasn’t any kind of overwhelming sadness to her voice or anything. She now was last in the rankings. It was almost as if it still hadn’t processed in her mind that she had even lost at all. Umi stayed completely silent, her bangs shielding her eyes as she looked to the floor. They stood outside the school door; the sound of rain pounding at the ceiling filling their ears.

“Rather, I wouldn’t even call it a fight. I thought I sang and danced with all I had but— I don’t really know how to describe it. My head was spinning.” After a short pause, she continued.

“Umi-chan, I...” 

_SLAP_

Before she could continue her sentence, Honoka was interrupted by the loud ringing of Umi’s hand against her cheek. Her eyes widened in shock, Honoka had nothing to say.

“Idiot!” was the only thing Umi could think to tell her. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im sorry its been a while since ive uploaded, schools been kicking my butt, i hope you guys arent disappointed by the chapter! Ive been trying to upload once a month and i hope ill be able to keep to that schedule


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